David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.

31 March 2014

Show your support for the Gallery and become a Member today. You’ll
get exclusive offers, special Members-only tours, learn more about art
and get great value from regular visits to the Gallery.detailA Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

27 March 2014

The following is from yesterday's Question Time in the House of Representatives.

The goings-on are in part a response to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's surprise announcement of the previous day in which he unilaterally reinstated Knighthoods and Damehoods above all other Honours awarded in Australia.

The SPEAKER:We seem to have a new tactic of having an outburst of infectious laughter—which I suspect may become disorderly—and I suspect it might begin with the member for Franklin. The member for Franklin is warned.

Mr Burke: I rise on a point of order, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: It had better be a proper point of order.

Mr Burke:Madam Speaker, are you ruling people out of order because they are laughing?

The SPEAKER: The member will resume his seat. The member for Franklin will leave the chamber under standing order 94(a).

The member for Franklin then left the chamber.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

Mr Abbott:The Leader of the Opposition referred to what he called 'the royal comedy channel'. I think that is offensive and he should be asked to withdraw.

The SPEAKER: To assist the House, the Leader of the Opposition will withdraw.

Mr Shorten: I withdraw the comment. I did not mean to offend the Prime Minister. I completely withdraw.

Opposition members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The Prime Minister has the call, and you can regard yourselves as universally warned.detailA Person Looks At A Work Of Art/

In this way, none of the interventionists knew who among them was a normal Actor of Regard and who a paid professional performing the prescribed Act of Regard.

The script was issued on the day : just act normallyPerhaps someone in this tableaux is one of the commissioned Actors? Maybe they all are?

It never occurred to the Witness that the shoe-maker might be someone else's Actor. "Would you like to make a shoe?", she asked. The wall text said My name is ... and I'm a shoemaker. So, sure, why not?

Tab
A to Tab B then thread the lace and tie.

The Witness asked the
shoemaker, "When did you first think to yourself, 'I want to make
shoes'?" At this the shoemaker broke character and admitted to
not being a shoemaker but a fill-in paid actor, a lawyer odd-jobbing. What about this group? Maybe one or more of them are the Actors? Later, The Witness was told this was a different group of TAR participants, seen here after that other synchronous performance.

At 9pm the Witness and Three Actors met for the first time. left to right : Actor Three, Actor Two, Actor OneThey shared their experiences : of watching a security official looking closely at a wall (see: The Daruma Muralists); of dissolving into looking; ofsuspecting others of suspecting them to be Actors.

Regarding the latter, the Witness told them of some people returning to report that, since they had been informed that some among them were Actors, now everyone appeared to them as possibly Actors.

20 March 2014

Normal Performance of Regardby Theatre of the Actors of RegardDocumentation of Normal Performance of Regardby Peter Tyndall

at NGV-Australia (Federation Square)

6-9pm Friday 14 March 2014

The Witness was talking with Actor One about the Big Bang being the two carbon arcs of a cosmic cine-projector sparking together to begin the projection upon our mind-streams of the great meta-movie "Let There Be Light". (see: From Genesis to the Brothers Lumière)

It seemed a little ironic, therefore, that the NGV screen upon which this blog has appeared throughout the time of Melbourne Now was on this occasion sans image.

Caterina the curator called David the techie.

The Witness documents their archetypal TAR Act : STABAT REGARDER

It begins :

] We behold ( Through a glass, darkly

This is the iconic Stabat Mater scene : grieving figures (Mary and John The Evangelist) to either side of the Four Right Angles of the Apocalypse upon which The Logos is projected and Labelled.

19 March 2014

Normal Performance of Regardby Theatre of the Actors of RegardDocumentation of Normal Performance of Regardby Peter Tyndall

at NGV-Australia (Federation Square)

6-9pm Friday 14 March 2014

TAR unplanned Act : Cousin Paula arrives shortly after 6pm, expecting a public lecture. She gives to the TAR documentor a photo made by his Aunt Elva at Crusoe Reservoir, Kangaroo Flat, in the early 1960s.

TAR tableau vivant :

"Boys. We're here. It's over. Come back."

On 'Hannah Gadsby's OZ' (ABC TV) last night, there was that same pose again. Aussies at war in Europe, 1915, looking back at us across time and water : "Boys. Come over here. You're wanted".

Verbfrom the Latin verbum, meaning word, is a word (part of speech) that in syntax conveysan action (look, listen, observe, behold, witness, regard, think, speak), an occurrence (happen, become) or a state of being (be, exist, stand).

- via Wikipedia

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

with our thoughts we make the world.

- first words of The Dharmapada

someone verbs

someone acts

someone clicks or decides not to click the image below to see it appear larger

Honoré Daumier, 1865Devant le tableau de M. Manet

In front of the picture by Manet.

"Why the devil is this fat, red-faced woman in her nightdress called Olympia?"

"But my dear, perhaps that's the name of the black cat." someone looks at

08 March 2014

"The Biennale of Sydney has announced it will sever ties with its founding partner Transfield, caving in to pressure from artists angered by the company's links to Australia's offshore detention centres.

The board of the Biennale of Sydney also announced on Friday that Luca Belgiorno-Nettis had resigned as chairman, less than two weeks before the event is scheduled to begin.

Mr Belgiorno-Nettis's resignation after 14 years and the severing of ties with Transfield represents a huge win for artists and refugee advocates and an embarrassing backdown for the Biennale board, which claimed the Biennale could not exist without Transfield and pledged its loyalty to the Belgiorno-Nettis family two weeks ago."

06 March 2014

MATERIAL

16TH JAN 2014 – 18TH DEC 2014 · WEST SPACE ·

In 1998 in Sydney, John Nixon published a weekly one page magazine MATERIAL, commissioning 50 artists to create unique artworks to be placed centrally on an A4 page. Produced on pink photocopy paper in editions of 100, MATERIAL offered a snapshot of artistic activity at the time.

Some of the artists who participated in this first series include Rose Nolan, Mike Parr, Hany Armanious, Howard Arkley, Aleks Danko, Mikala Dwyer, Kathy Temin, Nike Savvas and DAMP.

MATERIAL operated as a lo-fi limited edition print run retailing at $2 each. This project evolved out of a previous one page magazine project John Nixon published in 1981 called ‘Pneumatic Drill’.

In 2014 West Space will publish a new fortnightly edition of MATERIAL using similar parameters as the first edition. This will be available from the West Space reading room from 30 January 2014. We’ve adapted the original masthead design with updated details, and will sell them in an edition of 100 for $3 each. (inflation over 16 years! – still cheaper than a cup of coffee).

If you would like to reserve a full 2014 set of 25 pages, contact WEST SPACE via email.

MATERIAL is co-edited by John Nixon and Danny Lacy.

MATERIAL No. 4 by Peter Tyndall will be launched tonight. Peter is the first artist to be represented across both the 1998 and 2014 series.